The last of the media horde was filtering out of Louisville's locker room when the music started, but the Cardinals' celebration had already begun.

In Quentin Snider's locker, a wrestling belt from the Bluegrass Sports Commission sat behind his chair. It had a gold plate in the middle, with "Most Valuable Player" printed underneath the commission's horseshoe logo.

As Snider, a Louisville native who grew up with this heated rivalry, spoke with media members after his career-high 22 points led 11th-ranked U of L past No. 5 Kentucky, 73-70, his jubilant teammates tossed him a Santa Claus hat to wear.

"It's more special for Q than any of us," junior forward Anas Mahmoud said.

Only the other Kentucky natives on the Cards' roster - Ray Spalding, David Levitch, Tyler Sharpe and Dwayne Sutton - could appreciate the significance of what had just transpired, Mahmoud said. But everyone in the locker room could see what it meant to Snider, a soft-spoken and mild-mannered Ballard High grad.

Snider was more vocal during the game, more than he ever has been, sophomore Donovan Mitchell said. He was relentless in attacking the basket, coach Rick Pitino said.

At several key moments, Snider was Louisville's go-to guy, making two pivotal shots in the game's waning moments. He also made two 3-pointers and improved his 3-point shooting clip over the past five games to 10-of-23, or 43.5 percent.

His flat-footed floater with Kentucky's De'Aaron Fox draped on him gave U of L a five-point lead with 2:47 to go. His layup with 1:44 left gave Louisville a six-point cushion, which was enough to hold off a comeback effort from Kentucky in the final minute.

"Same shot, just believing in myself and just having confidence in myself," Snider said. "That's what I did."

It didn't look as if the shots meant much to Snider, but that's only if you go by his visage. Inside, Snider said, he knew exactly what he was doing and exactly what it meant to him, his team, his family, his friends and his hometown.

Especially after Louisville had lost its last four games to Kentucky and eight of its last nine.

"Growing up as a kid, you just have Louisville in your heart," Snider said. "When you go into games and you're from here, you're playing for the city and your friends and your family."

Snider did have help from a lot of places, and sophomore Deng Adel served as Snider's primary wingman. The 6-foot-7 forward scored a career-high 18 points and grabbed six rebounds in 37 minutes.

He was also tasked with the monumental task of guarding Kentucky's Malik Monk, who came into the game averaging 21.9 points per contest after a 47-point performance in a win over North Carolina.

Adel and his teammates harried Monk, with the goal of denying him the ball and shadowing him everywhere he went, Pitino said.

Monk still scored 16 points, including a 3-pointer with 12 seconds left that made it a one-point game and served as a warning shot to any Louisville fan that was already celebrating. But he had to work for those 16 points, needing 17 shots to get there.

It wasn't Adel's best defensive performance in his time at Louisville - he held Duke's Brandon Ingram, the No. 2 pick in the NBA draft, to eight points and forced 10 turnovers - but it was a close second.

"Since Grand Canyon, we don't want anybody scoring 40 on us," said a laughing Adel in reference to Grand Canyon's DeWayne Russell, who scored 42 points against Louisville earlier this month. "It was a team thing. We switched a lot on him. We wanted to make him drive more."

The result of all that work was the game's most anticipated player-on-player matchup shifted to Snider versus Fox, who was brilliant in his own right with 21 points, three assists and two steals.

But the 6-3 Kentucky freshman couldn't track Snider all game, losing him several times off screens and drives. Snider is known for his guile and craft, traits that make up for what he lacks in athleticism.

And in a game like this, with so much emotion at stake for his city, Snider came through for his hometown.